BT promises 1,000 new call centre jobs in next 15 months

(ShareCast News) - BT Group plans to double the size of its UK customer services workforce with an extra 1,000 new jobs before April 2017.Regulator Ofcom on Friday released figures that showed BT was rated below average for landline and broadband customer service, while soon-to-be-acquired mobile network EE scored the lowest levels of customer satisfaction.BT said on Monday that, following the 1,000 roles added in its UK consumer call centres, it will add the extra 1,000 permanent jobs in centres in coming months, beginning with 100 in Swansea.The remaining 900 roles, which BT said would be call centre advisors, apprentices and some graduates, will be spread across its other UK call centres."We announced in September 2015 that BT Consumer is going to answer more than 80% of its customers' calls in the UK by the end of 2016 and this means we need more people in our UK contact centres," said Libby Barr, managing director of customer care at BT Consumer."We will have created 2,000 permanent UK jobs by the end of this process, including agency transfers, which is a fantastic boost for the UK economy and many regions where we are already a significant employer."BT's customer service plans involve spending an extra £80m over two years.On Friday, the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) gave the company final and unconditional approval to complete the acquisition of EE, which BT expects to close on 29 January.Analysts at Societe Generale said, while hardly unexpected, approval was still good news, especially given the tough start to the year for markets. It sees synergies from the deal as the key drivers to boosting its growth estimate from 3% to 6-8% compound annual growth rate for earnings per share and dividend per share over five years.